LoneSnark

I have seen LTE in some new places, particularly the Cary dead zone. although it is still just band 26. However, in East Raleigh I got something down-right weird. Signal Checker showed band 41^2 (41 with a power of 2 above it). Is this carrier aggregation here in Raleigh? I didn't think my phone supported it at all, and I might be right, because when band 41^2 is showing rather than just band 41 without the superscript I have no data connection.

I have not noticed any discernible changes recently. There are still huge gaps around town, particularly Cary, where only 3G can be had. The gaps are still somewhat correlated with where the Wimax towers were (back when I used Wimax regularly). I don't have a way of checking if the Wimax is still up, but if it isn't, I guess it is going to take longer than a software update to switch on the LTE bands at these locations.

My problem eventually followed me home and everywhere else, causing my data connection to cease functioning whenever my handset dropped from LTE to the eHRPD protocol. Well, it was like that for a week or so, but now has been fixed in a curious way. My phone now no longer even attempts to connect over the eHRPD protocol, using the EV-DO protocol instead whenever on 3G bands. I don't know if this fix came via a PRL or profile update, or if it is a change at the cell site. I'm now wondering if this is going to be a permanent change for all HTC One Max handsets, just me, or merely temporary while problems with eHRPD get worked out.

In my area, there are many spots where having a WiMax signal means not having LTE. I presume they are waiting for the WiMax shutdown to replace the WiMax equipment at these sites with LTE equipment.

Which leaves the question of how...I'm an MVNO customer, not a Sprint customer. Am I even allowed to call their customer support number?

I'm vacationing in the mountains and the Sprint tower servicing my area seems to be miss-configured. My phone loves to drop from LTE, presumably due to poor signal, although the LTE seems perfectly functional when it is in use. However, it drops to eHRPD, which gives the permanent error "Unable to establish a wireless data connection LTE: EMM-65535" until it reconnects to LTE. However, a workaround is to lock the phone into CDMA only mode, which switches from eHRPD to regular EVDO, the error goes away, and the data connection functions as it should (slower than LTE, but the phone won't stay on LTE anyway, gosh darn it). Soooo, should I notify Sprint? Could it just be my phone (HTC One Max)? eHRPD functions just fine everywhere else I've gone for the past year or so. Maybe they are in the process of upgrading this particular tower?

Many of the lte holes I know of were left to leave room for wimax equipment. Therefore, once wimax shuts down, those cell sites should convert to LTE.

LoL Well, per the title II regulations passed, while the FCC is going to wait until later to work out how to implement them, the FCC is required by the regs just passed to impose taxes on your already expensive internet connection. To quote the dissenting FCC commissioner: Of course, my objection to the new regs is the subjective catchall provision, requiring ‘just and reasonable’ conduct.” Keeping in mind this is the same agency which spent its entire history persecuting what it considered unreasonable obscenity on the airwaves, how long do we have until they decide it is unreasonable for ISPs to not actively filter traffic for piracy and obscenity?

Finally activated my Spark device on my MVNO, and am stunned to discover now much LTE2500 coverage there is in Raleigh. So much of the state doesn't even have LTE1900, but they went ahead and installed the extra LTE2500 hardware here. Odd choice, in my opinion. If I were them I would have saved the LTE2500 hardware for regions where the towers were at least somewhat overloaded, and use the money saved to deploy LTE800 absolutely everywhere. Then again, maybe I'm thinking about it all wrong. Maybe revamping a tower to deploy all three bands costs trivially more, at which point it would be a wasted opportunity not to triband every tower their workers touch. One other comment, though. I'm not getting nearly the range out of LTE800 as I get out of 1x800. Maybe this is by design, though.

I'd suggest Ring+

I went to Atlanta a week ago for DragonCon and saw very extreme behavior from excessive overloading. My phone spent nearly the entire time sitting on the 1x800 channel, which made texting a breeze. My friend on Verizon had trouble sending and receiving texts. But, Data was a different animal. EVDO would not even connect the entire time I was there. Not once. 60,000 young people on their phones crammed into a few city blocks made sure of that. No matter, LTE1900 phone...except, LTE was also insanely overloaded to the point my phone sometimes also refused to connect to LTE. Outside, no obstruction, full bars, and LTE would refuse to connect some of the time (cycling airplane mode would try again). It seems the towers were in triage mode, operating a lottery of which handsets were allowed to connect. When it would connect, the throughput was abysmal, 80kbps over LTE was the fastest I measured. 1x was useless for data, however, I don't think I ever got a single byte of data across on either CDMA band.

The statements in this thread don't feel accurate to me. Sending data over radio waves involves putting a sequence of symbols on the available channel space and transmitting them long enough for the receiver to determine what symbol is being sent. How long a single symbol needs to be sent is dependent upon the modulation frequency, as it should take time, measured in cycles, for the receiver to identify when the frequency and phase of a modulated signal has been changed to. Therefore, doubling the modulation frequency should allow you to shove twice as many symbols on the channel per second, and therefore twice the data per second. What is special about cellular telephony that this is not the case?

I'm in Cary, just discovered my phone is on 1x800. Stock PRL. Thanks be to the Sprint gods!

Lovely write up. Thank you Daniel. But I must ask. I understood the 850mhz band to be the roaming band for Verizon. Sprint's spectrum is below that, in the 800mhz band. As such, does the same tower also carry for Verizon? Or does Sprint install 850mhz panels so Verizon customers can roam onto Sprint towers?

Sprint has apparently pulled the plug on its MVNO PrepaYd Wireless. Anyone here have any insight into what caused the dispute? Did PrepaYd just not pay their bill, or perhaps they were knowingly activating devices from Virgin Mobile or iPhones. That would perhaps explain the anti-trust allegation, rather than the more reasonable breach of contract, given the two were contracted parties. http://www.prepaidphonenews.com/2014/02/sprint-has-terminated-prepayd-wireless.html

MVNOs didn't get that message

They could, but it would require rewriting the radio firmware. Sprint could certainly do this if they wanted to, but I believe they would never choose to do so. First, it would hamper a feature of the phone they advertised (simultaneous voice and data). Second, it would be a bunch of work recertifying phones on their network which are older and they don't really care much about.

I don't think everything he says here is right, but there is no evidence Sprint intends to treat tri-band LTE any different for MVNOs. https://ting.com/blog/ting-goes-for-three-tri-band-lte/

Ok, what's the deal? I have an EVO 4G LTE, had signal check pro going, and drove all the way from Orlando FL to Raleigh, NC and not once did it alert or report 800mhz connectivity. I think I must have it configured wrong. Under Phone Info, I had it set to CDMA + LTE/EvDo auto. should I have had it on CDMA auto (PRL) ?? Could it also be my PRL is wrong, due to my MVNO carrier?

That would be our very own resident SIgnalCheck Pro

I know it is not on the list, but has anyone tried activating an EVO 4G LTE?

I presume it is a perception issue for Sprint. If your phone is ever having trouble communicating, they don't want you to be able to look up and see 4G. A more generous reading is that EVDO coverage is literally more extensive on more towers and has more available channels to choose from, so theoretically if a phone is having connection issues, 3G should be more likely to achieve a reliable connection than LTE at this time. But my experience is exactly the opposite of what theory says it should be. On my EVO LTE, I'll be stationary at the office, LTE working just fine, although clearly at its extreme signal limits. Then, seemingly at random, it drops to EVDO and connectivity is effectively lost. Pages just spin, Skype begins toggling online/offline, and messages pile up (waiting to send, and come in all at once). I can force it back to LTE with airplane mode, which is annoying. I need to stay connected to CDMA for texting purposes, so setting the radio to LTE only is out. There is a CDMA, LTE radio option, but when I use it in this setting, LTE drops out all the same, just back to CDMA rather than EVDO.

Well, it is hard enough making sure I receive all my texts over CDMA.

So tempting...But I think I'll hold out for the Ringplus deal. Having to place all calls over VOIP sounds rather frustrating.

I suspect the reason they don't charge for roaming is because most customers roam sometimes, and it is far better to just ignore the occasional month of roaming rather than field a million calls asking about the new charges.